Piazza del Duomo, Messina, Sicily

William Leighton Leitch British, Scottish

1835–36

Not on view

Leitch drew Messina’s main square when he visited the city in 1835-36 during a four-year sojourn in Italy. The distinctive banded façade of the city’s Norman cathedral, and its truncated bell-tower, would both be destroyed in an earthquake of 1908, and later rebuilt. At center, we are shown the fountain of Orion (1553), with Italian pilgrims kneeling in the foreground. After Leitch returned to London in 1837, he became active in the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, and served as drawing master to Queen Victoria and the royal children.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Title: Piazza del Duomo, Messina, Sicily
Artist: William Leighton Leitch (British, Glasgow, Scotland 1804–1883 London)
Date: 1835–36
Medium: Graphite with white heightening
Dimensions: Sheet: 10 1/16 × 14 1/16 in. (25.5 × 35.7 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Roberta J.M. Olson and Alexander B.V. Johnson, 2017
Object Number: 2017.663.4
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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By William Leighton Leitch

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A Parkland View at Dusk, William Leighton Leitch British, Scottish, Watercolor and graphite — A Parkland View at Dusk
William Leighton Leitch
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The Lake of Zug, Joseph Mallord William Turner British, Watercolor and bodycolor (gouache) with reductive techniques over graphite — The Lake of Zug
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The Kaunitz Sisters (Leopoldine, Caroline, and Ferdinandine), Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres French, Graphite — The Kaunitz Sisters (Leopoldine, Caroline, and Ferdinandine)
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
Prince Wenzel von Kaunitz-Rietberg
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Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat, Edgar Degas French, Graphite and black chalk — Édouard Manet, Seated, Holding His Hat
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Two Draft Horses with a Sleeping Driver, Théodore Gericault French, Brush and brown and gray wash, over graphite — Two Draft Horses with a Sleeping Driver
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